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A lot of media has been repeating the statement, which I thing is just plain stupid; “AirPods are a new platform”. Because even though they are a great product,

A lot of media has been repeating the statement, which I thing is just plain stupid; “AirPods are a new platform”. Because even though they are a great product, a pair of earbuds simply cannot be a platform just because someone looked at the total revenue and compared it to the first iPods. This however is a great write-up showing how the wireless connectivity that powers AirPods might be turned into a platform in the future, if Apple wants to broaden its tech rather than keep it as a competitive advantage.

yazaddaruvala 6y ago
AirPod Pros have changed the way I use my iPhone. More podcasts, more Spotify, more YouTube/Netflix on the phone rather than through AirPlay / Chromecast, and more Siri. Now if only more of Siri was processed on device (which is slowly but surely happening), I can see AirPods+Siri becoming a “platform”.
- ehnto 6y ago
  Would that have been the case with any non-branded wireless earbud, given the same performance? What makes you associate the AirPod to this change in behaviour?
  - izacus 6y ago
    Apple marketing combined with submarine advertising like the linked article here.
    - gumby 6y ago
      I don’t think this is submarine advertising. Apple is big enough, prominent enough, and loved/hated enough to have an active community of pilotfish analyzing and speculating (and a big enough community of readers to pay the pilotfish in likes and even dollars). I’m sure Apple does use submarine ads, just don’t think this is an example.
  - yazaddaruvala 6y ago
    As long as the earbuds were: small, wireless, don't fall out during exercise, active noise cancelation, long battery life (although AirPod Pros could have even longer battery life), simple portable charger, easy interface. It also helps A LOT that I never have any issues with the Bluetooth (not previously true with non-AirPods I had used, and given up on). I'm also ok with the current touch interface on AirPods. However, I wish Apple would let me fully remap the buttons to any keyboard key or keyword-shortcut instead of just "start/stop music", "next song", "transparency/noise cancelation". Specifically, I want the AirPod controls to easily skip ahead during podcasts (15-30 seconds), unmute or mute in Zoom/Slack/etc, and volume controls. Ideally, this sort of flexibility will be how Apple turns AirPods into a "platform".
    - selfhoster11 6y ago
      I could say exactly the same thing about my on-ear Bose wireless noise cancellation headphones. They are bigger, heavier and more cumbersome than AirPods, but so what. They still do the job, and I don't call them a "platform" any more than I would call my PC's keyboard a "platform".
      - yazaddaruvala 6y ago
        Keyboards were the first platform on a computer. You should instead think of “new platform” in the context of the mouse. It offered a significantly different user experience. We just happened to call that platform “Graphical User Interface” it could have easily been called “the mouse platform” in its early days and made perfect sense. Its not ideal to call AirPods a platform, but lend the writer some poetic license, what they are describing doesn’t currently have a canonical phrase in the zeitgeist.
        selfhoster11 6y ago
        By that definition, you can call any paradigm-shifting invention a "platform" and drown all remaining meaning of the word in buzzword-speak. Let's just call it how it is - it's a new kind of peripheral, or a new interaction paradigm that unlocks new things. It's revolutionary, yes, but that doesn't make it a platform.
- drewzero1 6y ago
  I would argue that the $10 bluetooth earbuds I got at Menards have done exactly the same for the way I use my iPad mini. (I was still using wired headphones exclusively until about a year ago, but started to find it limiting with a device that can't fit in my pocket.)
ClumsyPilot 6y ago
The word platform is dead. Not it means nothing. It's now joined the rank of 'service as a service', 'platform on demand', and so on

yazaddaruvala 6y ago

AirPod Pros have changed the way I use my iPhone. More podcasts, more Spotify, more YouTube/Netflix on the phone rather than through AirPlay / Chromecast, and more Siri. Now if only more of Siri was processed on device (which is slowly but surely happening), I can see AirPods+Siri becoming a “platform”.

ehnto 6y ago
Would that have been the case with any non-branded wireless earbud, given the same performance? What makes you associate the AirPod to this change in behaviour?
- izacus 6y ago
  Apple marketing combined with submarine advertising like the linked article here.
  - gumby 6y ago
    I don’t think this is submarine advertising. Apple is big enough, prominent enough, and loved/hated enough to have an active community of pilotfish analyzing and speculating (and a big enough community of readers to pay the pilotfish in likes and even dollars). I’m sure Apple does use submarine ads, just don’t think this is an example.
- yazaddaruvala 6y ago
  As long as the earbuds were: small, wireless, don't fall out during exercise, active noise cancelation, long battery life (although AirPod Pros could have even longer battery life), simple portable charger, easy interface. It also helps A LOT that I never have any issues with the Bluetooth (not previously true with non-AirPods I had used, and given up on). I'm also ok with the current touch interface on AirPods. However, I wish Apple would let me fully remap the buttons to any keyboard key or keyword-shortcut instead of just "start/stop music", "next song", "transparency/noise cancelation". Specifically, I want the AirPod controls to easily skip ahead during podcasts (15-30 seconds), unmute or mute in Zoom/Slack/etc, and volume controls. Ideally, this sort of flexibility will be how Apple turns AirPods into a "platform".
  - selfhoster11 6y ago
    I could say exactly the same thing about my on-ear Bose wireless noise cancellation headphones. They are bigger, heavier and more cumbersome than AirPods, but so what. They still do the job, and I don't call them a "platform" any more than I would call my PC's keyboard a "platform".
    - yazaddaruvala 6y ago
      Keyboards were the first platform on a computer. You should instead think of “new platform” in the context of the mouse. It offered a significantly different user experience. We just happened to call that platform “Graphical User Interface” it could have easily been called “the mouse platform” in its early days and made perfect sense. Its not ideal to call AirPods a platform, but lend the writer some poetic license, what they are describing doesn’t currently have a canonical phrase in the zeitgeist.
      - selfhoster11 6y ago
        By that definition, you can call any paradigm-shifting invention a "platform" and drown all remaining meaning of the word in buzzword-speak. Let's just call it how it is - it's a new kind of peripheral, or a new interaction paradigm that unlocks new things. It's revolutionary, yes, but that doesn't make it a platform.
drewzero1 6y ago
I would argue that the $10 bluetooth earbuds I got at Menards have done exactly the same for the way I use my iPad mini. (I was still using wired headphones exclusively until about a year ago, but started to find it limiting with a device that can't fit in my pocket.)

ClumsyPilot 6y ago

The word platform is dead. Not it means nothing. It's now joined the rank of 'service as a service', 'platform on demand', and so on